


a kaleidoscope cannot be empty

by salt-n-sin (milkfr0g)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Themes, Determination, Dissociation, Fluff, Mental Illness, Other, Physical Abuse, and some soul stuff i guess, past abusive relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-06-02 08:41:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6559705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkfr0g/pseuds/salt-n-sin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kardi's bad days are better than they used to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a kaleidoscope cannot be empty

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Kaleidoscope](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6470644) by [salt-n-sin (milkfr0g)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkfr0g/pseuds/salt-n-sin). 



> After re-reading this I'd place this scenario after the events of The Marionette, immediately before the events of Arc 2 (whatever we're gonna name that).

_"Fucking soulless bitch!"_

  
Then he hit her. It wasn't as though she hadn't been hit before, but Kardi hadn't expected it from him yet again after he promised no more. She thought he loved her. She thought he wanted to take care of her and they were going to move in together and maybe...

  
This timeline was wrong. The only comfort Kardi sought in the moment as her friend pushed her to the ground and kicked her in the ribs was that it would all be over soon. If she was lucky enough maybe she would pass out soon and wake up in the cabin in the woods again.

  
Alone.

  
Free.

  
She met him at a video game convention. He seemed so perfect, so happy to be around her and talk to her about their favorite games. Their top five were nearly all the same. Kardi loved that they even loved the same characters and he was just so perfect and attractive and ah...

  
He cosplayed her favorite. She cosplayed his. They were a team together, they rode the ship together; late at night they rode other things together...

  
...and now he was beating the shit out of her, because she was having an off day. Something about her dissociations set him off. Kardi didn't know how to fix it and if she could have she would; she _would_ do _anything_ for him because she loved him _so much._

  
Or did she? No, she couldn't love him. If she really loved him then her mind wouldn't reject him in the way it did. She would just _fucking stop_ dissociating because she knew it pissed him off.

  
She must have _hated_ him.

  
No wonder he hated her.

 

  
"Kardi?"

  
She blinked up. Doctor Gaster was looming above her, his hand cupped around her exposed soul, syringe newly filled with red Determination. Kardi hadn't even felt the procedure today. Usually it was painful, but it was worth it as long as she could be assured that she was staying in the Underground for good.

  
The doctor's expression was soft, and he quickly set the syringe on the desk behind her to free his hand so that he could ruffle her bangs. He paused, letting his hand linger on top on her head as he let out a soft sigh.

  
Kardi stared down at her exposed soul. Swirling purple and indigo hues calmly intermingled with one another now that the red core wasn't there to aggravate them. The fluid motion relaxed her as she focused on the energy in front of her.

  
"Heh," she let out a tiny laugh. Kardi grabbed the hand cupping her soul with both of her own to balance herself as she stood on the great leather desk chair, her soul following to keep aligned with her chest. Even this way she still couldn't meet Gaster's height. She looked him in the eyes and smiled, tears threatening to invade her eyes.

  
"They were wrong," Kardi told him as she cupped her own hands underneath her soul. "They were all so wrong."

  
Her soul rested back inside of her body as she wrapped her arms around Gaster's neck and pressed herself against him as tightly as she could. He mirrored her actions by wrapping his arms around her, bringing her even closer in his strong embrace.

  
"Do you love me?"

  
"Of course I love you," he breathed over her hair, moving his hand to entangle his fingers in it, "otherwise I would not work so hard to keep you here."

  
As Kardi pulled back and stood on her tiptoes to reach him better the chair slipped from under her, the doctor nimbly putting an arm under her knees to catch her in one swift motion as the chair clattered against the desk behind her.

  
She let one of her hands slide over his shoulder and rest on his chest, feeling the ribbed material of his red sweater. He was so warm in so many ways and even on her off days he stayed the same.

  
Gaster was so unlike anyone else she had ever been with.

  
She squeezed his shoulder with her other hand to prompt him to lift her to meet his face, moving her hand to the side of his skull as she gazed into his eyes low-lidded.

  
"I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> i puked at the fluff and then i cried and i'm also kinda sorry i wrote this


End file.
